Service providers of telecommunications, Internet access, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), video, electronic mail (e-mail), hosting, security, and/or mobile communications (for example, “cellular” telephones) typically manage and/or operate in one or more service areas. Customers that reside or are otherwise present within a service area may enjoy all of the service features offered by the service provider, and such customers typically expect that those features will operate to their fullest extent. In other words, in the event that high-definition mobile video services are provided by the service provider, the customers within the service area expect, for example, that the video quality, frame rate, and/or corresponding audio content will perform at an optimum level.
In the event that the customer leaves the service area managed by the service provider, any services utilized by the customer are typically routed through an available foreign network, such as a competitive service provider of wireless services and/or internet access. One or more of the services may not function when the customer is located in the foreign network service area or, if such services do function, a lesser degree of quality and/or performance may result. In some circumstances, the foreign network may monitor the type of data accessed by the customer while present in the foreign network service area and throttle or otherwise prohibit certain types of data.
For example, the foreign network service provider may identify that the customer is using a handset and receiving/sending high-definition video over the foreign network. To preserve bandwidth consumption, the foreign network service provider may then disable such high-definition data transfer and/or limit the available bandwidth to the handset.